


Reflection

by GreenBryn



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-11-09
Updated: 2003-11-09
Packaged: 2018-09-16 19:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9287414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenBryn/pseuds/GreenBryn
Summary: I lean closer and study the girl on the other side of the glass. So similar and yet so different, I gaze deep into her green eyes and wonder what she’s thinking, if this existence that she had dreamed of years ago is making her happy.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was first posted [here](http://spikess.livejournal.com/936.html).  
> 

Movement catches my attention and I pause, looking through the mirror at myself. I don’t recognize her at first: a new haircut frames her face, and I can’t resist running my fingers through the feather-light short strands. It looks nice, different than my usual style, but I’ll get used to it. My lips quirk and she frowns, her right hand tangled in her hair in the exact opposite of my left hand in my own hair. She’s my reflection, light shining through a backward slide. I lean closer and study the girl on the other side of the glass. So similar and yet so different, I gaze deep into her green eyes and wonder what she’s thinking, if this existence that she had dreamed of years ago is making her happy. The lines under her eyes are deepening, and the smile doesn’t light up her eyes like it used to, but she’s survived all the hell her life has put her through so far. The lines can be covered with makeup, and no one looks into her eyes anymore, so there’s no evidence of the toll her parents’ divorce and her grandmother’s death took from her. I tuck a stray wisp of hair behind my ear and straighten the necklace, my double copying the moves in perfect synchronization. 

“There. All set. Ready to face the world again?” Both of our lips form the words, and I see her hesitant nod. We step away from the glass, about to leave and then…“Wait.” I glance back at the glass, at the girl who could be, is, me. My mouth moves, but it’s hers that says it. “Thank you.” We smile and she leaves the room, to continue the rest of her life. Without my physical form present, I sink back into the shadows inside the mirror, to sleep until the next time my image is called forth, to dream about my life before my reflection and I switched places.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I once read a story a long time ago (I think it was by Bruce Coville) about a girl whose reflection sucked her into the mirror while she switched places - was thinking about that when I wrote this 


End file.
